I'm Ziair and in my neighborhood West Oakland, hearing gun fire is normal. My brother got shot in the same hood where I live, so I really know how it is to have a family member shot. In West Oakland little kids as young as 11 have and play with guns. Kids that I hoop with carry weapons.
Me and my family have been impacted by gun violence when I lost a loved one.
Natalia Wallace, age 7 from Chicago. Natalia was “sweet, shy, loving, and good at math” said her family. In Chicago an innocent kind kid's life was taken, first degree murder. The getaway driver was found and denied bail. She was killed after being struck by a stray bullet at a family 4th of July party in the 100-block of North Latrobe Avenue.
Natalia was playing on a sidewalk when police said three armed men got out of a white car and fired more than 20 times in the direction of the people holding the party that police said included many children Natalia was killed while playing with her cousins In a yard In the Austin neighborhood.
Losing my brother Torian was horrible. I didn't think it was real. I thought no, not my brother.
Everybody knew him and he knew everybody but some envied. Torian was killed by a black on black crime. He died in a park. Iit was traumatizing for me because my brother smiled at me while he was in the emergency car at the same time slowly dying. It really hurt me. I never knew somebody that close would die ,little did I know that would be the last time I would see him.